


The Words We've Shared

by graytheglowinggay



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Autistic Carlos, Autistic Cecil, Autistic Meltdown, Autistic Problems, Canon Compliant, Changing Perspective, Developing Relationship, Dorks in Love, Filling In the Gaps, Long-Distance Relationship, Long-Term Relationship(s), M/M, Marriage Proposal, Nonverbal Communication, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prompt Fic, References to Canon, Stimming, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr Prompt, Wedding, minor hurt/comfort, self-injurious behavior, shapeshifter!cecil
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-15 00:44:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9212171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graytheglowinggay/pseuds/graytheglowinggay
Summary: Words hold power, more than we may realize. And nowhere is this fact more true than in Night Vale.Cecil and Carlos's relationship has been built on words, both spoken and not. These are just a few of them.(A series of ficlets based on a tumblr prompt)





	1. The Things That You Said At 1 AM

“Cecil?”

“Carlos, it’s the middle of the night. What do you need?”

Cecil rolled around in their bed to face his boyfriend.

“Ceec, I’ve been thinking.” Carlos said, thoughtfully, (or about as thoughtfully as one can while trying to not fall asleep).

“You tend to do that.” Cecil replied. It felt like the right thing to say.

“We’ve been together for almost three and a half years,” Carlos replied. Cecil could see that he was blushing, even in the dark. “I was just thinking, that, maybe, you know, scientifically speaking, it was time that we got married.” 

Cecil’s jaw would have dropped to the floor if he had been standing up. Instead, he settled for practically jumping out of bed. “Wait, are you proposing to me?” Cecil asked, his voice cracking in the middle of the sentence.

“I-I guess I am?” Carlos said, sitting up in the bed and scratching his head. He reached over onto their bedside table, and turned on the lamp. “I didn’t plan this at all. I was just trying to fall asleep, and I started thinking about you, which I guess I do a lot, and I thought ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Cecil’. So I said it. Sorry if the presentation was disappointing.”

Cecil felt himself crying, (which meant that his face started getting wet all over, as he tended to grow extra eyes while he slept. Thankfully, they started to disappear when he started thinking about it). He ran forward, and pulled Carlos up from the bed and into his arms.

“Carlos, I would  _ love _ to marry you. I want to become your husband, and spend every possible moment of my life with you.  _ Yes _ !”

Carlos was beaming, and he pulled Cecil in for a messy, emotional kiss. “Cecil, I love you,” Carlos said, pulling away from his soon-to-be-husband’s lips for a brief moment. “I can’t wait for us to become officially married.”

“Let’s do it next week.” Cecil replied, matter-of-factly.

“How? Weddings take weeks, maybe months to plan! You can’t just give yourself seven days!” Carlos replied, dumbfounded.

“Well, we had a spur-of-the-moment proposal, we can have a spur-of-the-moment wedding to go with it,” Cecil winked and smiled. “I can get Old Woman Josie to have the Erikas put everything together. Besides, the Sheriff’s Secret Police already know that we want to get married. They take care of most things regarding weddings.”

Three and a half years ago, Carlos would have asked a million questions about the how the Secret Police already knew, or what that meant for how their wedding would go. Now, he simply pulled Cecil back into another kiss.

The two of them stood wrapped around each other, half-dressed with sleep-mussed hair. It was an imperfect proposal, for an imperfect couple, starting to build a life together.


	2. The Things You Said Through Your Teeth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carlos has a difficult day at work, and Cecil comforts him.

Carlos walked through the front door of the apartment that he shared with his husband. He kicked off his shoes and threw down his bag. “This is fucking perfect.” he mumbled. He could feel his hands shaking, so he started to flap.

“Hey, babe.” Cecil yelled from the other room as Carlos walked in. Carlos didn't respond. He sat down on the couch in their living room, and started rocking, hands still flapping at his sides.

“Carlos, honey, is everything alright?” Cecil asked, sitting down on the couch next to Carlos.

“Everything's fine.” Carlos muttered, jaw clenched. He shuffled away from Cecil. He tucked his legs into his chest and wrapped his arms around them, and started rocking faster.

“Are you sure? You don't sound fine.” Cecil replied, worried.

“Everything's fine, okay!” Carlos yelled, tears streaming down his face. He bolted out of the living room and ran into the bedroom. Cecil quickly followed.

Carlos was on the floor of the bedroom, curled up in the fetal position, hitting his head against the floor and punching his legs. He was very obviously shaking, and all the while he was saying over and over again, “Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…”

Cecil very quickly grabbed a pillow from their bed and sat down next to Carlos. He very gently took Carlos’s hands into his own, and slowly eased the scientist into his lap. He started rubbing Carlos’s back in slow, gentle circles, and before long Carlos’s breathing had fallen back to a normal rate. Cecil gently turned Carlos so he was lying down on his back.

“Carlos… can you talk right now?” Cecil asked.

Carlos shook his head.

“Carlos, I’m gonna grab your talking board. I’ll be back. If you feel like you need to hurt yourself, use the pillow.” Cecil replied. He quickly walked out of the room, and went into their shared office to get Carlos’s talking board. The two of them had worked together to make it, and it combined a whiteboard with a booklet that contained a small collection of common words and phrases that Carlos used. Carlos’s meltdowns and overloads often left him nonverbal, so alternative methods of communication were essential.

Cecil walked back into the room, talking board in hand. He sat down next to Carlos, who was still on the ground. He very clearly hadn’t moved since Cecil had left.

“Now, Carlos, I’m going to help you sit up. Do you need to lean against the bed?” Cecil said, helping lift his husband into a sitting position. Carlos shook his head, and managed to keep himself upright. Cecil gently put the board into the scientist’s lap, and Carlos reached for the marker that was tied to the board.

“Is the meltdown over?” Cecil asked.

“ _Yes,”_ Carlos replied, writing the word out.

“Do you want me to get your chew?”

“ _That would be lovely._ ”

Cecil got up and walked over to their nightstand. He opened the box that the two of them kept their stim toys in, and pulled out the green rubber chew shaped like an Erlenmeyer flask that was Carlos’s favorite. He sat back down next to him, and handed Carlos the stim toy. Carlos eagerly took it from him, and started chewing furiously.

“Do you know what triggered your meltdown?” Cecil asked him.

“ _Probably… right now everything’s still fuzzy._ ”

“Is there anything else I can do to help you get your words back?” Cecil replied.

“ _Well, there is one thing.”_ Carlos wrote.

“What is it?” Cecil asked.

Carlos smiled. _“The Bill Nye the Science Guy theme song.”_

Bill Nye the Science Guy was one of Carlos’s special interests, and if anything could help Carlos feel better, it would be one of his special interests. Cecil took out the vinyl that had the song on it (Carlos was still very confused about how they were able to get the song on a record, but Cecil hadn’t admitted anything), and set it on the turntable. A slightly scratchy “Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!” began to emit from the fanged gramophone. After the song had already played through once, Cecil could see Carlos’s lips mouthing the words to the song. By the third or forth, he was softly singing along.

“How are you doing now?” Cecil asked after the song had played through enough that the needle had lept off of the record in protest of having to play the same song over and over again.

Carlos opened his mouth, and, somewhat laboriously, said, “Better.”

“That’s good to hear. Now, can you tell me what happened? I’m concerned, and I want to prevent this from happening in the future.”

“Things are clearer now,” Carlos replied. “I’ll try my best to explain. Things at work were... difficult. So today we had set up to do some research on the strange lights that travel along the highway. We got permission from the City Council, and we set up our instruments and I triple-checked all of our equipment, but when we finally got the results back, they were inconclusive. All of that work, a whole day of it, and nothing. I was so frustrated that nothing happened, but I knew that I still needed to be a good leader for my team. So I bottled it all up, and when I got home, I guess it just exploded. I’m sorry for getting angry at you.

“Carlos, it’s not your fault. From what you’ve told me, science isn’t easy, and failure is part of it. You know what’s a good thing, though? You’ll be able to try again tomorrow, and I know that the second try will go better.”

“Thanks, Cecil,” Carlos replied. He chuckled. “What did I do to deserve you?”

“What did I do to deserve _you_?” Cecil replied, quizzaciously lampooning Carlos’s tone, and lightly kissed Carlos’s nose. Carlos giggled, and pulled Cecil in for a second kiss. The kiss deepened, and Carlos picked Cecil up and deposited him on their bed. They continued making out, removing articles of clothing, but were interrupted by a knocking at the door.

“Cecil? Cecil, it’s Dana!” a familiar voice yelled from outside the apartment. “Did you forget? We have dinner tonight?”

“Shit.” Cecil said, under his breath. He was wearing only his boxer shorts, his pants having been pulled down to his ankles and his shirt cast aside. Carlos wasn’t fairing much better. His flannel was completely unbuttoned, and his hair was mussed almost to a comical extent.

“I’ll handle Dana. You get your clothes back on.” Carlos said, already buttoning up his shirt. “One second, Dana!” Carlos yelled as he got up off of Cecil. Before leaving to answer the door, he gave Cecil one final kiss, and whispered in his ear, “We’ll continue this later.”

Carlos half-walked, half-ran over to answer the door, buttoning up his shirt along the way. He opened the door just a crack. “Could you give us a moment?” he asked through the crack.

Pointedly ignoring the tell-tale signs of Carlos’s messy hair and swollen lips, she replied, “Tell Cecil to hurry it up. He’s _always_ late.”

Cecil walked over to the door, slipping on his shoes. Carlos heard him approaching and opened the door up fully.

“Sorry for the delay, Dana. We were a little… busy.” Cecil said. He walked out of the door of the apartment, and threw Carlos a suggestive glance. Carlos raised one eyebrow and mouthed the words “see you later”. He winked and closed the door.

“Do I _want_ to know what that was supposed to mean?” Dana asked as the two of them walked to the staircase.

  
“No, probably not.” Cecil replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't been posting lately! School's been difficult, and my mental health's gone down the drain. I wrote a little one-shot similar to this a while back, and I thought that I'd update it since it fit the prompt so well. Thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll return to a more regular update schedule.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this! This will update fairly frequently, as it takes less time to write. Long live Cecilos!


End file.
